Month: July 2017

Lake Erie can be a curse. It is shallow and the waves can come from all directions causing an unpleasant and nasty ride. When we completed the Welland Canal we docked in Port Colborne at a nice marina with good friends of ours that are the Harbor Hosts. The winds were howling and blowing like crazy when we docked after finishing the canal and continued to blow the next day. Of course, we were still in Canada!

It wasn’t an entire lost day because we are friends with the Harbor Host of Port Colborne. A Harbor Host is a member of the Looper’s Association that volunteers to help other Loopers with things like transportation to stores or recommendations for services in their area. Our Harbor Host actually helped Steve install our transmission. When we met them after finishing the canal we were whipped. They invited us to join their local boater friends for a cookout. It was just what we needed after that long day. The next morning we sat at the dock, but we became entertainment for the local boaters. They had not seen a power catamaran before and many came by our boat for a look. It was great fun.

It pays to wait. The next day was much better. Seas built to 3 feet, but Gypsies Palace can still have a smooth ride when other boats are smacking along. We just “skip” along the waves although we were getting hit from the side so there was a certain amount of “roll” on the lake. Our destination was Cleveland and the Rock and Dock Marina. We wanted to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and having the docks right there was an attractive way to get there.

That Rock and Dock Marina is a jewel. Docks are like new and it was easy to dock. We came mid-week and there was only one other boat there – a Looper boat of all things! There is a Mexican restaurant right at the marina and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is steps away. We went the next morning and spent 3 hours there. You could easily spend a couple of more hours enjoying their exhibits. It is well organized and we loved learning more about the history of different types of music and places. We especially likes the special exhibit for the Summer of Love ’67. Steve is from California and they featured the Monterey Pop Festival, which he attended! We even learned more about the part that Cleveland played in the history of Rock and Roll.

It has been awhile (again) since I have updated the blog. So, I should start with a Tranny update. When we first got to St. Catherines the marine repair facility ordered a new transmission from Kentucky and they expected to receive it in 3 – 4 days. Well, we waited and waited and then after 3 weeks we were told that it went to Vancouver and was sitting to clear customs. That was over 2,200 miles away. We were kicking ourselves for not driving to Kentucky to pick it up. We were not getting any responses so Steve wrote Investor Relations at Volvo and then things started kicking in. That was on a Friday and on Monday it was shipped to clear customs near us on Tuesday. We received the Tranny on Wednesday. It was our feeling that it was never shipped in the first place and there was only one available in the entire country. Sigh, what can you do at this point?

Thursday was our big day of installation and the sea trial. We were never sure that we had not damaged the shaft. When we fired up the engines my stomach was in a big nervous knot. Little by little Steve gave the boat several tests and we were confident that everything was once again working fine. What a relief!! No other damage.

Our plan was to depart on early Friday morning to traverse the Welland Canal. This route is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie via a series of locks. It is heavily used by freighters transporting goods. Most of the Loopers do not go this way, but we were too wide or too tall to take the other waterways so this was our route. It is 26.8 miles long and consists of only 8 locks. Each lock raises the boat approximately 46.5 feet for a total rise of 326 feet. This is the “by-pass” around Niagara Falls. A freighter will take 11 hours to complete all 8 locks and they definitely fill an entire lock. Pleasure boats have to wait until all of the commercial traffic is cleared before they are allowed to start locking through. There is no stopping like on the Erie Canal. The entire locks must be completed which takes typically 6.5 hours to 10 hours. Additionally, a pleasure boat must have 3 people onboard when locking up to Lake Erie to assist with the long lines to secure the boat.

Fortunately for us I had a high school friend that wanted to come with us for the Adventure. He and his wife arrived on Wednesday so that they would be ready when we were ready to go. Friday we left the dock at 6:30. For the first time we awoke in a big fog bank. Crap!! We tried to inch our way to the inlet for the canal, but even with radar we couldn’t see the entrance to make it in safely. We were worried about the freighters exiting the canal as we were trying to enter. We sat at anchor until finally Steve decided to follow a freighter in, but we couldn’t see him. That worked, but by now it was 9:30 by the time we made it to the wall where we contact the lock to ask when we can proceed. We were told that if we could have gotten in at 7:00 we would have been able to start right away. Crap again!! Now the commercial traffic was all ahead of us and our delay would be hours.

We settled back to wait and relax. Around 2:00 Steve checked back in, but they still had too much traffic so we watched a movie. Another boat showed up on the wall, but they were going to wait until morning. We had dinner and checked back in around 7:30. At this point we were told it would be after midnight so we decided to make the run in the morning after a good night’s sleep.

Lock entrance2 way locksWaterfall Wall

On Saturday we started our locking at 7:30 and we completed the process at 5:00 – about 36 hours from when we got to the wall. Happily for us we had no issues with any of the locks even though they are huge when compared to the Erie Canal and the rush of water is greater. We were prepared for it and it definitely helped having someone at both ends of the boat. Plus, they put us first in the locks where we were not getting hit with the large turbulence. However, you are exhausted when it is over because there is tension to keep the boat close to the wall by pulling in the slack. We had 2 boats behind us that were told to raft together and we watched them struggle. We were just glad that it was over!

Glad to be moving on the Loop again!

Breathe in, Breathe Out, Move On…….Jimmy Buffett

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Last you heard we had left the Erie Canal and were on Lake Ontario. Our route is to head west on Lake Ontario, dock and traverse the Welland Canal to Lake Erie. That was the PLAN, but…………………………Gypsies Palace had other ideas.

The day started picture perfect. Lake Ontario was like glass. We were going to stop in Rochester, but it seemed like a good idea to take advantage of the flat seas and push on to Port Dalhousie (St. Catherines) Ontario, Canada. Everything went according to plan and we came into the marina in windy conditions. We had no one to grab our lines so Steve needed to make a couple of passes at the dock to check wind and current.

About 10 feet from the dock, disaster struck. We heard to big clunk and the next thing Steve knew, he did not have use of the Starboard propulsion! The Engine was working fine but he couldn’t put the transmission in gear. We later found out that with the water levels so high on Lake Ontario there is stuff floating everywhere, most right under the surface and our prop grabbed a submerged line and it wrapped around the shaft so tightly that it pulled (broke) our transmission off of the engine! We later heard that someone had hit a refrigerator floating just below the surface not far from the marina. So, a lot of crap is out there under the water.

We weren’t out of the woods yet. Steve only had one engine to control the boat and it was the wrong one with the winds and current. Everything was pushing us into the rocks and breakwater. Gypsies Palace could not make the dock on one engine with the wind pushing us away from the dock. Steve managed to get us out of the marina and we anchored in the Lake just outside the Breakwater. What we needed was a tow to the docks. We sat on the boat and tried to contact SeaTow or TowBoat US, but they had no one nearby. So, what were we going to do? Read more →